• Title/Summary/Keyword: bullfrog

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The Incidence of Abnormalities in Bullfrogs, Rana catesbeiana, and Their Heavy Metal Accumulations in the Yeongsan River System (영산강 수계에서 채집된 황소개구리의 기형 양상 및 체내 중금속 축적)

  • 이두표;고선근
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.15 no.2
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    • pp.153-158
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    • 2001
  • 영산강 수계의 습지생태계 모니터링의 일환으로 4개 지역을 선정하여 황소개구리 205개체를 채집하여 이들의 외부기형 출현율 및 양상을 조사하고 그들의 체내 조직에 축적된 중금속 농도를 분석하였다. 황소개구리의 기형 출현율은 6.8%로 다른 척추동물에서의 자연발생률 3%보다 높았으며, 기형은 모두 앞 또는 뒷발갉에서 나타났다. 유형별로 보면 결손(Ectrodactyly)이 64.3%로 가장 많았고 다음으로 확장(Dilation)이 28.6%, 절단(Truncation) 7.1%의 순이었다. 정상과 기형 개체간에 중금속의 농도를 조직별로 비교해 본 결과 기형개체의 신장에서 Mn은 4배, Zn 은 1.5배, Cu은 7배, Pb는 8배, Cd는 7배 정도 높았다. 또한 기형 개체에서는 이들 원소의 조직분포 패턴도 변화한 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 결과들로부터 황소개구리는 습지생태계의 모니터링 시료로서 유용하게 이용될 수 있음을 알 수 있었다.

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Analysis and Mitigative Countermeasures of Wind Noise from Transmission Line (송전선로 풍소음 발생 원인분석 및 저감대책)

  • Sim, Soon-Bo;Min, Byeong-Wook;Kim, Sae-Hyun;Lee, Dong-Il;Shin, Gu-Yong
    • Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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    • 2002.11b
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    • pp.35-37
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    • 2002
  • Most of the inhabitants living near power line complain wind noise from power line to be problems they can feel directly if there is no countermeasure to remove noise basically. Wind noise from power line happens by tower, insulators, conductor and others in their operating individually or complexly. Wind noise show us several forms like whistle, siren and bullfrog croaking as height of noise source is high and elastic wave tone with low frequency. This paper shows actual conditions and occurrence cause which may be investigated and analyzed on the wind noise, and also prepares mitigation methods and introduces a working sample to reduce a wind noise.

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Inability of Mate and Species Recognition by Male Asian Toads, Bufo gargarizans

  • Cheong, Seok-Wan;Sung, Ha-Cheol;Park, Shi-Ryong
    • Animal cells and systems
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    • v.12 no.2
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    • pp.93-96
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    • 2008
  • In recent years, we frequently observed missmatched pairs between male Asian toads, Bufo gargarizans, and bullfrogs, Rana catesbeiana, at the toad breeding ponds, where scramble competition for mating occurred among the male toads. Thus, we performed two-choice experiments to investigate recognition ability of mates and species in male toads. The test males did not discriminate sexes, but the clasped stimulus males immediately produced release calls and stopped it while the clasped stimulus female did not. In addition, the test male toads did not discriminate reproductive state of females and even species. However, male toads chose larger individuals. The present results indicate that the main reason of missmatched amplexus by the male toads is due to 1) the lack of recognition cues of conspecifics, 2) the lack of communication tools like release calls, and 3) the larger size of bullfrogs than male toads themselves.

A Study on the Diet Items of American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) in Ga-hang Wetland, Korea (가항늪에 서식하는 황소개구리(Lithobates catesbeianus)의 먹이원 분석 연구)

  • Park, Chang-Deuk;Lee, Chang-Woo;Lim, Jeong-Cheol;Yang, Byeong-Gug;Lee, Jeong-Hyun
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.32 no.1
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    • pp.55-65
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    • 2018
  • This study was conducted to clarify diet items and predatory behavior of American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) according to the sex, maturity and season from April to September 2014 at Gahang wetland of Changnyeong-gun, Gyeongsangnamdo province, Korea. We examined the stomach contents of L. catesbeianus using a gastrectomy technique and identified the contents to a genus or species. The examination showed that large and heavy individual of L. catesbeianus fed on larger amounts of food. However, there were no statistically significant differences in predation amount according to the sex and maturity of L. catesbeianus. The main diet item of during the study period was mostly Insecta (average population rate of 65.5%), followed by Crustacea (13.5%) and Gastropoda (7.9%). The most preferred diet item of L. catesbeianus was Muljarus japonicus. Surprisingly, L. catesbeianus also foraged Parus major, Apodemus agrarius, and Crocidura lasiura. Ths findings showed that L. catesbeianus directly disturbed the wetland ecosystem. We expect the results will be the important reference data for checking the impact of L. catesbeianus, which is designated as invasive species by the Ministry of Environment, on wetland ecosystem.

Involvement of Amino Acids Flanking Glu7.32 of the Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone Receptor in the Selectivity of Antagonists

  • Wang, Chengbing;Oh, Da Young;Maiti, Kaushik;Kwon, Hyuk Bang;Cheon, Jun;Hwang, Jong-Ik;Seong, Jae Young
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.91-98
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    • 2008
  • The Glu/$Asp^{7.32}$ residue in extracellular loop 3 of the mammalian type-I gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRHR) interacts with $Arg^8$ of GnRH-I, conferring preferential ligand selectivity for GnRH-I over GnRH-II. Previously, we demonstrated that the residues (Ser and Pro) flanking Glu/$Asp^{7.32}$ also play a role in the differential agonist selectivity of mammalian and non-mammalian GnRHRs. In this study, we examined the differential antagonist selectivity of wild type and mutant GnRHRs in which the Ser and Pro residues were changed. Cetrorelix, a GnRH-I antagonist, and Trptorelix-2, a GnRH-II antagonist, exhibited high selectivity for mammalian type-I and non-mammalian GnRHRs, respectively. The inhibitory activities of the antagonists were dependent on agonist concentration and subtype. Rat GnRHR in which the Ser-Glu-Pro (SEP) motif was changed to Pro-Glu-Val (PEV) or Pro-Glu-Ser (PES) had increased sensitivity to Trptorelix-2 but decreased sensitivity to Cetrorelix. Mutant bullfrog GnRHR-1 with the SEP motif had the reverse antagonist selectivity, with reduced sensitivity to Trptorelix-2 but increased sensitivity to Cetrorelix. These findings indicate that the residues flanking $Glu^{7.32}$ are important for antagonist as well as agonist selectivity.

Bile Acid Inhibition of N-type Calcium Channel Currents from Sympathetic Ganglion Neurons

  • Lee, Hye-Kyung;Lee, Kyoung-Hwa;Cho, Eui-Sic
    • The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.25-30
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    • 2012
  • Under some pathological conditions as bile flow obstruction or liver diseases with the enterohepatic circulation being disrupted, regurgitation of bile acids into the systemic circulation occurs and the plasma level of bile acids increases. Bile acids in circulation may affect the nervous system. We examined this possibility by studying the effects of bile acids on gating of neuronal (N)-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel that is essential for neurotransmitter release at synapses of the peripheral and central nervous system. N-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel currents were recorded from bullfrog sympathetic neuron under a cell-attached mode using 100 mM $Ba^{2+}$ as a charge carrier. Cholic acid (CA, $10^{-6}M$) that is relatively hydrophilic thus less cytotoxic was included in the pipette solution. CA suppressed the open probability of N-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel, which appeared to be due to an increase in (no activity) sweeps. For example, the proportion of sweep in the presence of CA was ~40% at +40 mV as compared with ~8% in the control recorded without CA. Other single channel properties including slope conductance, single channel current amplitude, open and shut times were not significantly affected by CA being present. The results suggest that CA could modulate N-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel gating at a concentration as low as $10^{-6}M$. Bile acids have been shown to activate nonselective cation conductance and depolarize the cell membrane. Under pathological conditions with increased circulating bile acids, CA suppression of N-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel function may be beneficial against overexcitation of the synapses.